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Cons:

Last year's Spider-Man 2 was a knockout in terms of what the series had done. It had so much going for it: a wide-open environment, amazing web-swinging mechanics, a solid fight system, and impressive visuals. Though the story itself wasn't too impressive, the gameplay more than made up for it. This year, the good folks at Treyarch have given us another impressive entry with Ultimate Spider-Man, but it isn't exactly what you would call "ultimate."

First things first, this is the closest a video game has gotten to a comic thus far. Treyarch enlisted the talents of USM scribe, Brian Michael Bendis, whose monthly work on the Spidey comic title rarely (if ever) disappoints; and USM artist Mark Bagley, whose visual style is captured to near-perfection. The story is great -- revolving around Peter and his superhero duties mixed with his teenage woes. Never does it delve into the likes of the soap-opera nonsense found in The O.C., but rather, it focuses on a kid trying to do the right thing with the gifts he was given. Characters from the series pop up -- Nick Fury, Johnny Storm, Silver Sable -- and are an added bonus (if you're a comic nerd like me).

The visuals are so amazing, they astound me every time I play. This is probably the best-looking comic game out there. It's not that it's super-detailed, capturing every last hair on the character as you'd expect from an Xbox 360 game. Instead, it keeps things simple and maintains the look from the comic. If you took the comic and matched it up against the game, it's surprising how little variation there is. Buildings are simple and blocky, but they fit. The distant New York skyline is the slew of skyscrapers and towers one would expect. Even the characters themselves have the same Mark Bagley detail.

Spidey himself looks spot-on and he moves just like you'd expect him to. When swinging, his legs dangle appropriately; when he's in mid-air between web swings, he performs flips and flourishes that the wall-crawler is known for. His movements and exaggerations on his punches and kicks are taken straight out of his books. It's so much fun just to watch our hero in action.

The voice-acting is also impressive, especially since this is a video game. It's the same quality you'd expect from a movie or TV show. Despite it being a game, there's no bad or over acting going on here. Spidey is a squeaky-voiced teenager in the midst of puberty -- but that doesn't mean his trademark smart-ass quips and banter aren't accounted for. In fact, these are some of the best treats in the game. It's fantastic to hear Spidey say "sweet sassy molasses!" when he's shocked. The banter like "my point being: you truly do very much suck," is great. My personal favorite is when he first meets the behemoth Rhino " I'm so scared, I can even finish my lame joke." Good times, that's what that is. Besides, what is Spider-Man without his classic banter?